


On the Shoulders of Gods

by EHyde



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jane Foster/Science - Freeform, SHIELD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Chitauri invasion gave Jane Foster enough information to build a bridge back to the stars, but she worries about the broader implications of a violent first contact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out of the Dark

No one at the observatory knew why Dr. Jane Foster was there. “I’m familiar with your work, of course,” the director of research told her. “And it’s an honor to meet you in person. But we didn’t ask you to come.” He shook his head, smiling. “Does it look like we could afford to fly you out here?”

Jane glanced around her. Like most research facilities, they had spent their money on the best scientific equipment available, and consequently had very little left to spend on anything else.

“That’s fine,” said Jane. “I had hoped it wouldn’t be something like this, but … well, it was a bit suspicious.”

“You came anyway?”

Jane had only one reason for going where SHIELD—she assumed it was SHIELD—wanted her to go, but of course it wasn’t something she could tell the director. _If Thor’s come back—if SHIELD knows something about him—they should just tell me._ She felt like she was being toyed with. Giving her back her equipment and research notes as if they had been doing her a favor, condescending to let her play in their playground, had been bad enough. Stealing away Dr. Selvig—she knew what he’d thought of SHIELD, there was no way he’d gone to work for them freely—had been worse. In the very limited conversations they’d had since he’d left, he’d seemed fine, but …

“Who told you I’d be coming?” Jane asked, without answering the director’s question. “Was it SHIELD?”

The director blinked. “You know SHIELD?”

“It might be more accurate to say that SHIELD knows me,” Jane said wryly. “If they sent me here, there’s either something here they want me to find, or something back home they want to keep me away from.” _I hope it’s something they want me to find,_ she thought, though the idea of SHIELD _allowing_ her to make discoveries was … a little bit repulsive.

“Well, Norway is quite a ways to send you to keep you away from something,” said the director. “On the other hand, nothing unusual has been happening here. We picked up an anomalous reading just over a day ago, but that we traced back to the States, New Mexico. That’s where you came from, isn’t it?”

Jane nodded. _She_ hadn’t picked up anything, and she’d been right there. “What sort of range do you have here?” she asked.

“We can detect fluctuations in gravitational energy down to the nanojoule,” said the director. “I’m afraid we can’t let you recalibrate the systems to your own research, but you’re welcome to take a look at what we’re doing, while you’re here. I don’t suppose you have any idea how long that will be?”

“They told me a week,” said Jane. “But we’ll see.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” said the director. “I would have told you ‘don’t bother coming,’ but I had very little idea what was going on, myself. I still don’t. You must be tired from your flight, though—let me show you to your room.”

“Here?” Jane asked, looking around the observatory.

“This facility is quite a ways outside the city,” the director explained. “We have a few apartments here, and a cafeteria.” He frowned. “They asked that you remain on the premises.”

“All right, that is it. I am _going_ to figure out what’s going on here.” Keep her a prisoner? In Norway? _At a really,_ really _good observatory,_ she reminded herself. But oh god, what if they never let her back in the country? Could SHIELD do that? They’d made scientists disappear before—they’d practically made Dr. Selvig disappear, and they had been working on the same project …

“In the morning,” said the director. “You’ll think more clearly after you sleep. I’m as anxious to get to the bottom of this as you are—” That, Jane doubted. “—but it can wait till tomorrow.”

Logically, Jane knew he was right. Though she doubted she’d be able to sleep very well. “Thank you, Dr. … Lindberg?” She’d almost forgotten his name already. Maybe she was more tired than she thought.

But the director smiled and nodded. “Come, follow me.”

~~~  


Jane woke early the next morning, or at least, it felt early, until she looked at her phone and remembered the time difference. It was morning, anyway, but she should have been up hours ago. Well, to business. She made her way back to the main facility, without getting too lost along the way, where she found Dr. Lindberg and several others already at work.

“Dr. Foster, good morning!” Dr. Lindberg greeted her. “Sleep well?”

Jane nodded curtly. “I’d like to see the readings from your New Mexico anomaly,” she said without prelude.

Lindberg nodded. “Have you eaten yet?” he asked.

“Breakfast can wait,” said Jane. “Whatever’s going on could be going on _right now._ ”

He looked at her for a few seconds, then smiled, pulling a granola bar out of his pocket and handing it to her. “Here.” He stepped up to one of the computers and opened a few files. “Look—it’s similar to the data you published in your most recent paper, but—”

“Reversed, here and here.” She glanced over the data again. “As if the event was initiated here, on Earth.”

“But still a positive force, so that would mean—”

“Pulling something in,” Jane finished.

“If the anomaly you’ve identified actually is an Einstein-Rosen bridge, then, letting something in,” said Dr. Lindberg, more cautiously. “I hope you won’t take offense, but I remain unconvinced that what you found was a wormhole. Fascinating, certainly, but there isn’t enough evidence—”

“There was evidence,” said Jane. She sighed. “SHIELD … it’s classified. And now no one takes my work seriously.”

“I take your _work_ seriously,” Lindberg reassured her. “It’s just your conclusions … you say it’s being covered up?” Jane hesitated. She felt no loyalty at all to SHIELD at this particular moment, but she didn’t want to get Lindberg in any sort of trouble. “I won’t press you,” Lindberg went on. “But … well, it’s no wonder America is losing respect in the scientific community, if your government keeps all your progress hidden!”

“All right, that’s it,” said Jane. She pulled her phone from her pocket.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling someone who can tell me what’s going on,” she said, scrolling through her contacts for Dr. Selvig. He’d been silent about just what it was he did for SHIELD, but if Thor was involved, he’d tell her—wouldn’t he?

She was surprised when Erik answered on the second ring. She had been calling because there was really nothing else she could do; she hadn’t actually expected a response.

“Jane!”

“Dr. Selvig?”

“Where are you, Jane?”

“Um, I’m at a conference …” That was the story, right? “Look, I know SHIELD’s up to something, don’t try to hide it. I saw the readings from the wormhole you opened in New Mexico. What’s going on?”

“Oh, I’m not working for SHIELD anymore.” That should have been a relief. But something about the way he said it unnerved her. “I’ve found a far greater purpose. We tried to bring you in, too! Tell me where you are, and maybe we still can.”

“Um …” _A far greater purpose?_ That was a little weird. “The wormhole in New Mexico. Did you have anything to do with it?”

“The portal in New Mexico was only the beginning!” There was a muffled pause from the other end. “Jane, there’s someone here who would like to speak to you.”

_Thor?!_ Maybe Selvig had brought him back outside of SHIELD, and SHIELD didn’t want her involved. Maybe SHIELD had brought him back, and Selvig had managed to get him out of SHIELD custody, and—it should have been her who brought him back, but if he was here it didn’t matter, and—those thoughts passed through her mind and were shattered in an instant by the cold voice on the other end of the line.

“Dr. Foster.” _Not Thor._ “I had hoped to find you sooner. No matter. Your colleague proved sufficient.”

“Who—who is this?”

“You were expecting someone else.” A statement, not a question. “Selvig told me about you. Brilliant, he said. But short-sighted. Did you have any idea what you could have done for the future of your world? And you threw it away. For what—a man you’d known no more than three days? My brother did always have a way with women, but I’m honestly disappointed in you. You’ve lost your chance to make history, Dr. Foster. Now sit back—in whatever hole they’ve hidden you away in—and watch.”

The line went dead and Jane stood, silent.

“Dr. Foster, what is it? You’re shaking.”

She looked up at Dr. Lindberg. “Something’s wrong.”

~~~  


“You have to admit how unbelievable this all sounds.” Jane had retreated with Lindberg to a more isolated part of the observatory, where she had proceeded to tell him everything that had happened with Thor two summers ago. “Not to mention you’ve made a complete mess of my nation’s mythology.”

“I don’t know a thing about your nation’s mythology,” Jane admitted. “But look, this is what happened, this is the proof I’ve got—” It wasn’t bad proof, either—she had shown him way more data than she had published, plus all of the pictures and videos Darcy had managed to take on her phone. “—and I don’t have time to debate it with you. Loki’s on Earth, and if the wormhole in New Mexico is only the beginning, that can’t mean anything good. I mean, he’s the one who sent the, um, fire-breathing giant robot, and I’m pretty sure that was just to get Thor’s attention.” Jane sighed. Lindberg was right, it did sound ridiculous.

“What would you have me do, anyway?” Lindberg asked. “This is an observatory. We can't really do anything besides observe.” _In whatever hole they’ve hidden you away in._ Jane tried to push the thought from her mind.

“Maybe when whatever’s going to happen starts happening, we’ll be able to warn people.” But more than likely, when it started happening, it would be too late. She really couldn’t do anything more than watch. Jane had tried calling Agent Coulson—the only contact she had with SHIELD—with no luck. Of course, SHIELD already knew something was going on. _That_ was why they’d sent her here. To keep her safe. _I’m not a child!_ But she wasn’t a god, either.

Was Thor here on Earth, too? When he’d left, before, it had been to deal with Loki. But if Loki was here—that _had_ been Loki, hadn’t it? —then he hadn’t been dealt with, which meant that Thor might be—no. He was a god, right? But no, he was a super-advanced extraterrestrial. Not a god. _If I’m going to freak out about anything, it should be that the fate of the planet might be at stake. Not about Thor._ And she hadn’t thrown her future away for him! If anything, she’d been working even harder. She just … hadn’t accomplished a thing.

“If I’d left out the Norse mythology aspect and just said aliens, what would you have said then?” she asked Lindberg.

“Honestly? I—” His phone rang. “Hang on.” His expression changed as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. “We’ll be right back.” He turned back to Jane. “I may owe you an apology. Come, back to the lab.”

“There’s been another event?”

“Not ‘been,’” said Lindberg. “It hasn’t stopped.”

~~~ 

All of the astronomical events leading up to Thor’s arrival had lasted merely seconds. The New Mexico wormhole, minutes. By the time Jane and Dr. Lindberg reached the main lab, this one had lasted nearly twenty minutes. “It matches the event two days ago very closely,” one of the scientists said. “But there’s less fluctuation. And it’s a lot bigger.”

“Where is it?” Jane asked.

“New York.” _That can’t be good._

“We’re not sure what these are,” said the scientist. “These drops in energy levels.”

Lindberg leaned over to see what she was pointing out. “We had something like this on the New Mexico wormhole, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but just one.”

Jane took a look. _Oh._ “Dr. Lindberg,” she said. “In my data—what I showed you just now—I found drops like this only during the times that something actually came through.”

“But—we’ve recorded hundreds of them.” _Really not good._

“Dr. Foster,” said Lindberg. “I don’t suppose your data gives you any way of telling just what we’re dealing with here?”

She shook her head. “No, I—”

“Um. Giant space whales, looks like,” said a tech.

“What? How—”

“It’s in New York,” said the tech. “I figured it would have made the news.”

“Oh.” Right. Jane felt slightly foolish, though, she noticed, no one else had thought to check the news either. “Giant space whales?”

“Well, _I_ don’t know—look.” He tilted his monitor towards Jane and she could see a blurry cell-phone picture of what could, indeed, be described as a giant space whale.

“There’s an alien invasion in New York.” There was a moment of silence as they all tried to let that sink in.

“SHIELD knew about this,” Jane said. “Maybe not this, specifically, but they knew that something was going on. They must have some plan for dealing with it.”

“SHIELD?” the tech asked. “Um … some of the reports mentioned a guy _with_ a shield. I don’t know. It doesn’t look like anyone knows what’s going on. This is pretty much all just stuff people have posted to Twitter and the like.”

By this point almost everyone in the lab had gathered around. “Why don’t we put this on the big screen,” Lindberg suggested. There was a projector screen at one end of the lab, for presentations. “No, the news. We can examine the data later.”

They spent almost an hour sitting there in silence, watching the shaky reports come in. Giant space whales. Aliens on flying motorcycles. Iron Man. The Hulk. “Stark Tower shooting up this beam of light like that thing in LotR.” “Some guy dressed up as Captain America.” Jane would have suspected they were just making things up at this point if it weren’t for the pictures to back it up. The news crews on site—and there were some, by this point—were talking about a terrorist attack in midtown Manhattan, but the reports coming in over Twitter were talking about aliens and superheroes. “The police couldn’t stop them but this guy in a cape was just hitting them with a hammer.” That had to be Thor. Didn’t it?

The wormhole closed, abruptly. Reporters began to sound a bit more confident. “There are fallen enemy combatants all across Manhattan, and they are not human.” They began to mention superheroes, too, but only Iron Man and Captain America were named. Jane felt like they weren’t really getting any new information, but no one dared to look away.

Then her phone beeped at her. _Dude. Your bf is in nyc._

It was from Darcy. She had completely forgotten that Darcy was in New York now.

_What’s going on?_

_Hes eating shawarma with some guys._ Jane had no idea what shawarma was. Highly irrelevant, she suspected. _The aliens all died I guess?_

Lindberg and the others were looking at her. “A friend of mine,” she explained. “She’s in New York.”

Their eyes lit up. “Ask her—”

“I don’t think she knows any more that we do,” Jane said quickly. _Except that Thor is there._

_Is he ok?_ she texted.

_Think so? I could totally go say hi. Think he'd remember me?_

Yes, he probably would. _Let him be,_ she sent back. She still wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but whatever it was, Thor probably deserved a break. _I think they just saved the world._


	2. Unburned Bridges

“I’m not coming.”

“You’re—what do you mean?”

“That’s what I was calling to discuss,” Jane tried to explain. “You guys arranged for me to be out of the country for a week, right? It’s just—we’re making some great progress here. I think we’re really on to something, and I was actually calling to see if you guys could take care of all the paperwork I’d need to extend my stay here. Not to arrange a trip home.”

“Well—yes. That would be possible. But, um, Thor’s leaving tomorrow. I know he’d like to see you before he returns to Asgard. I had been under the impression that you felt the same way.”

She did. She really did. But … superhero demigod aside, he was just a guy she’d known for three days. Her work was more important. Flying halfway around the world to see a man who wasn’t even her boyfriend—not yet—was … unprofessional. “Look, Agent Hill, I really appreciate everything you’ve done here—” Not even a full day had passed since the thwarted alien invasion, and SHIELD had been in touch to fully explain everything that had happened and to offer to fly her to New York as soon as possible. She could only imagine everything else they had to deal with. “But I’m an astrophysicist. Not a superhero’s girlfriend.”

“Well. I was misinformed. I will see that your relocation to Norway is taken care of. Call us back if you change your mind, but don’t wait too long.”

Jane hung up and put her phone back in her pocket. This was the right decision, wasn’t it? She had agreed to fly to Norway on a moment’s notice because she thought Thor might be here, and now, when she knew he was in New York, she had decided to stay put. But it was different now. She knew he was safe, for one thing. More importantly, she really did think she was on to something. The portal in New York was powerful enough, and had been open long enough, that they had managed to record a huge amount of new data—enough that Jane had almost managed to pinpoint the exact location of the other side of the portal. Well, “exact” being a relative term. But still.

Her phone rang again. _Okay, keeping me in the loop is nice, but I’d like to get some work done here, too._ She regretted the thought as soon as she saw who it was. “Erik?” SHIELD had briefed her about what Dr. Selvig had gone through, or at least, had tried to. “Are you—all right?”

“Well,” he said, “I will be.” Jane stood up and walked over to a more isolated area. “Listen, Jane. You should come to New York. I think you’ll come to regret it if you don’t.”

“I’m making so much progress here, I can’t set it aside for a personal vacation, not right now.”

“I heard what Loki said to you—”

“And it’s not true! I am _not_ one of those women who drops everything in her life for the first man who shows up!”

“Jane, _no one thinks you are._ Loki least of all. Did it occur to you that this is what he wanted?”

“…what?”

“He knew exactly what to say to you to pull you apart because I told him. Because I’ve known you nearly your whole life and I know what you’ve had to deal with to get where you are today. But he’s the god of lies, Jane. You’re not weak, you’re certainly not short-sighted, and if you’ve sacrificed anything, it’s been your social life, not your work.”

“You—you really think that?”

“Anyone who’s met you would think that.” Jane was silent. “But honestly whether or not I think you need a man in your life has nothing to do with why I’m telling you to come back to New York,” Selvig went on. “Jane, tomorrow Thor will be escorting his only brother home in chains. Did it occur to you that _he_ might need someone, too?”

Thor was a god. He’d just saved the world. No, it hadn’t occurred to her. “I’ll come,” she said, before she even realized she’d made the decision.

“Good. I’ll have them work out the details.”

 

~~~

It was the quickest transatlantic flight Jane had ever taken, and she was in New York by the evening. Stark Tower was apparently being used as a temporary base of operations for SHIELD, and Dr. Selvig met her at the front entrance. “Jane,” he said, pulling her into a warm hug. “I’m so glad you came.”

Jane looked around. “So this is where—?” She broke off, realizing that this might not be the best subject to bring up with Erik.

“Where the portal opened?” Selvig nodded. “It’s all right.”

“ _Shall I inform Thor of Dr. Foster’s arrival?_ ” came a voice over the intercom.

“Tony Stark’s robot butler,” Selvig explained. “No need, JARVIS, we’re headed straight up.”

“ _Very well._ ”

“Is—everyone—staying here?” Jane asked, puzzled, as they stepped into an elevator. “I thought the tower was mostly offices and labs for Stark Industries.” She wasn’t sure, she supposed, just who she meant by “everyone.” The media had taken to using the name “Avengers”—which, she gathered, had come from Tony Stark—to describe the team that had fought off the alien invaders. But exactly who made up that team was still not completely clear.

“The top several floors are all Stark’s private residence,” Selvig explained. “And yes. SHIELD decided that until the situation was fully contained, it was best to keep the team—and everyone else who was involved—together. Stark Tower made the most sense.”

“And Tony Stark was okay with this?” Jane asked. That didn’t match up with the Stark she’d read about.

“Well …”

The elevator slowed to a stop and opened into a hallway. Jane followed Selvig through a few more doors until— “Jane!” She barely registered the other people in the room as she ran into Thor’s arms.

“Um,” she stammered, as soon as she was able. “I’m really, _really_ glad to see you.”

Thor smiled. That smile! “I missed you,” he said.

“What happened?” she asked. “You said you’d come back.” No, that wasn’t the right thing to say at all!

“The Bifrost was destroyed,” Thor explained. “The power needed to bring me here was too great. The Allfather only allowed it when it became clear your world was in danger.”

“But the Tesseract’s going back with him to Asgard,” Selvig provided. “That should allow the Bifrost to be repaired.”

“That is our hope,” said Thor.

“So,” said a voice from the other side of the room. “You’re Jane Foster.”

Jane stepped away from Thor and turned to face the speaker, feeling a little embarrassed at her display of emotion. Erik seeing her in Thor’s arms was one thing, but she had no idea who this woman was. Or the man sitting at the table near her, but at least he was looking away. “I am,” she said.

“Natasha Romanoff,” said the woman, stepping a bit closer “I read your file.”

“You’re with SHIELD, then,” said Jane. _Brilliant, Jane._ Everyone here was with SHIELD. As if to confirm this, the woman nodded. “And you’re part of the Avengers? Do you actually use that name? Or is it just something the media came up with?”

“No, it’s an official name,” Natasha said.

“A fine name, is it not?” asked Thor.

“As to whether I’m a member, that’s … complicated,” said Natasha.

“Nonsense!” Thor countered. “I count it an honor to have fought at your side.” The other blond man was nodding in agreement. Jane looked back at Natasha, uncertain.

“The Avengers initiative was a program started by SHIELD to bring together various super-powered individuals. Thor, Captain America—” she indicated the other man “—Tony Stark with his Iron Man armor. I was involved with bringing the team together, but I was never meant to be a part of it.”

“So ... you don’t have any superpowers,” said Jane.

“Nevertheless, Natasha is one of the fiercest warriors I have met,” said Thor. Jane blinked. She suspected that was high praise indeed.

“And—” Jane turned to the other man. “You’re Captain America.”

He rose to shake her hand. “Steve Rogers, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You’re—the real thing?” He nodded. “Sorry. I just—” She laughed. “I’d always thought Captain America was a fictional character.”

“A lot of people did.”

Thor took her hand. “Jane. Would you join me?”

She nodded and followed him out of the room. “Um, it was nice meeting you,” she stammered as she left. Great. _Way to make a first impression, Jane._

 

~~~

“I’m sorry,” said Thor, when they were alone. “I don’t mean to pull you away from Steve and Natasha when you’ve just met them. But I wanted to see _you._ ”

“Erik said you were leaving tomorrow.”

Thor nodded. “The sooner Loki is returned to Asgard, the better. My father … will know what to do with him.” But Thor looked uncertain.

“Where are we going?” Jane asked. She had followed Thor to a staircase—somehow it didn’t surprise her that he preferred stairs to elevators.

“Outside,” said Thor, a smile appearing on his face. “There,” he said, as she followed him out onto the rooftop terrace. “That will interest you. You should ask for a chance to examine it, later.”

“Is that—?”

“The device that opened the gateway,” Thor confirmed. “It has no power, now that the Tesseract is gone, but it may still be of use to you. I do not know how much Erik Selvig will remember of its construction, but if he is willing, he may be able to assist you.”

“SHIELD isn’t going to confiscate it?”

“I suggest you work quickly.”

Jane grinned. “This is great. You know …” She hesitated. It felt terrible even thinking it, let alone saying it, but she thought Thor might understand. “It was a horrible thing that happened, and thousands of people died, but if it hadn’t, my work might never have gone anywhere. But with the gravitational data from the portal, and now this …”

“It’s not a bad thing, to find the one ray of light in the darkness.” He sat down on the tiled floor, overlooking the city, and motioned for Jane to join him.

“We did this in New Mexico,” said Jane.

“I remember.”

“The scenery was a bit different.”

“M-hm.”

They sat still for a moment, looking down at the city around them. Not that Jane had ever been on the roof of a New York skyscraper at night before, but the surrounding area was unusually dark and silent—power hadn’t been restored, and there was no traffic. Stark Tower, of course, had its own power source.

“I wish that I had been able to return under better circumstances,” said Thor. “And remain here with you longer.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I wonder, though—if I had acted differently, would Loki have—?”

“I … don’t know him,” said Jane. “But plenty of people don’t get along with their families, and manage to go their entire lives without blowing up cities.”

“Have you any brothers or sisters?”

“No, it was just me. I wanted a sister—I thought if I had one, we’d be best friends. But all of my friends who did have siblings told me it never actually worked out like that.”

“Loki and I—we _were_ the best of friends, once. I don’t know where it went wrong.” A pause. “No, that is a lie. Father favored me—I could not see it at the time. When Loki learned that he was not Odin’s son by blood, I suppose he felt as though he’d never stood a chance.”

“Wait, Loki isn’t actually your brother?”

“He is adopted, and of Jotun blood.”

“I … have no idea what that means.”

“It _should not_ mean a thing,” said Thor. “I did not even know, until …” He broke off. “We should speak of other matters. I do not know that I will ever understand my brother, and now, I am not entirely sure that I wish to.”

Jane put her arm over his shoulder. “I can’t imagine how this must be for you,” she said. She really couldn’t. She was having a hard time connecting the—well, terrorist—who had caused so much death and destruction with the brother that Thor still spoke so warmly of.

“Other matters,” Thor repeated, firmly. But “other matters” consisted of a few more minutes of silence. What else was there to talk about?

“How is your work?” Thor asked, finally. “Have you found your bridge yet?”

“I _found_ it the last time you showed up,” said Jane. “Still working on understanding it, but … yes. I think.” She looked over at the portal generator. “With that, almost certainly.” She paused, musing. “You know, if I had never met you, but I’d still discovered what I know now, I’d have considered my work a success. A theoretical understanding of the universe. But knowing about all the other worlds out there—the good and the bad, I suppose—I want to do more than the theoretical. I want to build bridges myself.”

“The men of SHIELD think the same,” said Thor. “I have heard them discussing the need for an ‘interstellar presence,’ as they call it.”

Jane frowned. “That sounds … warlike.”

“I do not believe they intend retaliation, simply defense.”

“Still. I had been hoping for a more peaceful exploration.”

“Your world was invaded,” Thor reasoned. “You see a bright future in the heavens, but that is what you saw before the attack. Those mortals who never before saw the stars as anything more than points of light will look up now in fear. It is the place of a company of warriors like SHIELD to provide—their name is aptly chosen—a shield against that fear.”

“Well, yes, but … it wasn’t even like the Chitauri just randomly chose to invade us. They wouldn’t have come at all except for Loki, and—” She broke off. She remembered what Loki had said to her— _what you could have done for the future of your world._ Well … this was not good. This was not good at all.

“Hm?”

Thor wouldn’t understand what had happened here. He was from a culture that valued strength, and he thought SHIELD’s “interstellar presence” was a good idea. “Um, I just meant that an attack that was actually out of the blue would have signified more of a threat. Would mean that the universe was more dangerous, I mean. I’m sorry,” she said. “I keep coming back to this. I know you’d rather talk about something else. Um … your friends—Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. How are they?” Jane was rambling, her mind not on what she was saying at all. If what she suspected was true, then it would be a really bad idea for SHIELD to have anything to do with the future of space exploration.

“They are well,” said Thor. “And your friend Darcy?”

“She’s fine,” said Jane. “She’s here in New York, actually. Law school. She wasn’t hurt, though. I’ll probably see her before I go back to Norway.”

“You will continue your work there, then?”

She had thought so. But what could she accomplish there? Academic work. Valuable, important academic work, but if she wanted to actually get anywhere—and she meant that quite literally—academic work wasn’t going to be enough. “For a while, at least,” she said.

“I will return, when the Bifrost is repaired,” said Thor. “But I know not how long that will take. If you build your bridge first, I would be honored if you would visit me in Asgard.”

“…really?”

“Of course.”

“I mean … you actually think I can do it.”

“I know you can,” said Thor. He leaned in to kiss her. A light kiss—their minds both elsewhere still. “Mortals, traveling the nine worlds and beyond, on their own,” said Thor with a chuckle. “I never thought to see that. But I welcome it.” That, Jane felt, could definitely be taken the wrong way, but then, Thor could hardly be faulted for remembering a time when longships were the height of human transportation.

They sat in silence for a good while longer, resting against one another. Jane wasn’t sure how long they remained there, but she awoke in Thor’s arms as he carried her inside and paced her in a warm bed. “Goodnight,” she murmured.

“I will see you on the morrow,” said Thor. “I’m glad you came.”

“Love you.”

 

~~~

The next morning, Jane found the Avengers preparing for Thor and Loki’s departure. “Why Central Park?”

“Publicity,” Natasha explained.

“I always got the impression SHIELD was pretty anti-publicity,” said Jane.

“The public needs to see what happens to Loki,” said Natasha. “To send him back in secret would be asking for conspiracy theories.”

Jane nodded. Though, with a legitimate alien invasion, she suspected the conspiracy theories were inevitable. “Do you know where Thor is?” she asked.

“He’s still here,” said Natasha. “On the lower balcony.”

“Great, thanks.” Jane found Thor where Natasha said he’d be, standing at the edge of the tower and looking out over the city. “Good morning,” she said, hesitantly.

“Jane.” He didn’t turn around. “We have little time.”

“I know.”

“Loki is being held elsewhere,” said Thor. “I must go to him soon. We may see each other after that, but we will not be able to speak.”

“I understand,” Jane said. “This is goodbye.” Thor turned and came to her, taking her in his arms. “Last night,” Jane began. “Did I tell you I—?”

Thor paused, then nodded. “I will wait for you,” he said. “But Jane—if things don’t go as we wish—I don’t want you to spend your whole life waiting for me.”

“No, that’s—I was half asleep, I hardly knew what I was saying—”

Thor’s face fell. “So you don’t—”

“No! I mean, yes. I really do … care for you.” She couldn’t say “love,” not yet, why had she said that last night? “But it’s too soon and I mean, I expect I _will_ wait for you, but _neither_ of use should be making commitments like that when we won’t even be on the same planet and won’t have any way of staying in touch.”

“Very well,” said Thor. “No promises, save this: I will see you again.” He leaned in and kissed her.

It was a proper kiss, this time.


	3. Now We See Further

As she wasn’t publicly associated with SHIELD or the Avengers in any way, Jane was forced to remain behind the fenced-off area. The Avengers weren’t here yet, but the park was already packed, both with news crews and with curious civilians who had heard what would be happening. “Jane!”

Was that— “Darcy?” She turned to see Darcy pushing her way through the crowd.

“Ohmygod, I finally found you. Why don’t you answer your phone?”

“Uh … I guess the call didn’t go through.” A lot of infrastructure was still down in the city, after all.

“So what’s the deal here, speeches? Or are they just doing their teleport thing in front of everyone so people know it really happened?”

“I … don’t think there are any speeches planned.”

“That sucks. Wait, on second thought, I don’t want to hear Thor try to give a speech.”

Jane cracked a smile. “Oh! I think they’re here.”

It was over quickly. Jane tried to keep her eyes on Thor the whole time, but she couldn’t help but glance at Loki—she had never actually _seen_ him before, after all—and found his gaze meet hers. She quickly looked away. Despite the chains and the gag, he did not seem very … defeated. And then, a moment later, they were gone.

“Is that it?” Darcy asked, as the Avengers all went their separate ways.

“Yeah,” said Jane. “That’s it.”

“Huh.”

“I mean, I expect Tony Stark will give a press conference and they’ll release more details about what happened but that’s it, he’s gone.” _You knew he was going to leave, for god’s sake, don’t cry._

Darcy took her hand. “Come on, let’s go get a coffee or something.”

~~~

“What do you mean, you don’t want to talk about it?”

“I mean just that,” said Jane, exasperated. “It was weird and awkward and I have no idea what our status is. If we were a thing on Facebook we’d say it was complicated, okay?”

“You could be.”

“Could be what?”

“A thing on Facebook. Now that the whole world knows about aliens and stuff. Hey, do you think Agent Coulson will let me post those pictures now?”

“Um.” Agent Hill had told her the news, when she’d first been in touch after the attack. “Agent Coulson is dead, they told me.”

“Really? That sucks. He was pretty cool. I mean, for a guy who stole my iPod.”

“So …” Darcy wasn’t going to take the hint to stop talking about Thor, was she? “What you said just now, about the whole world knowing about aliens. What do people think about all that? Ordinary people, not people like me who’ve been studying space all their lives, or people like SHIELD who’ve been preparing for everything.”

“Honestly, I think most everyone’s still in the ‘is everyone I know okay?’ stage. Buuut …” Darcy fiddled with her coffee cup. “I dunno, I’ve heard a few people say it’s our own fault for not funding NASA, stuff like that.”

“That wouldn’t have helped,” said Jane automatically, though she knew that wasn’t the point.

“No one knows _what_ would’ve helped,” said Darcy. “And as for aliens … it’s like people still don’t want to say the word ‘alien.’ They talk about ‘extraterrestrial threats’ or some shit like that, like they can still pretend that aliens aren’t a thing.”

“But—threats, though.”

“Well— _yeah._ ”

Jane sighed. “This doesn’t prove that all aliens are hostile,” she said. “All it proves is that we’re not alone, and I _highly_ doubt that everyone out there is out to get us. I mean—Thor’s an alien, too.”

“And Loki …”

“Yeah …”

“I mean—look,” said Darcy. “Here on Earth, we can safely say that most people from the Middle East are not extremists and terrorists. I mean, we all _know_ that. But a lot of people still have that idea about them. Now I don’t know, _maybe_ the rest of Asgard and pretty much every other planet out there is peaceful, but we don’t _know_ anything, and of the aliens we’ve met? Thor’s the exception, not the rule. With an introduction like this it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to convince people otherwise.”

Jane didn’t respond. If SHIELD got their way, she didn’t think ordinary humans would ever get a chance to see the more peaceful side of outer space.

“Hey, on the plus side, this probably means you’ll get a lot more funding, right?” Darcy asked.

“I think SHIELD wants me to work for them.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“Well … maybe?”

“I mean, they were kind of dicks before but they’re the only way you’re going to get a chance to actually do anything with your work, right?”

“Unfortunately.”

“And I mean, they saved the world, right? They can’t be all bad.”

“Yeah … it’s just—I mean, they’ve been the bad guys for two years, right? They suppress my work, kidnap my mentor—okay, I mean, they didn’t really kidnap him but I don’t _think_ he had much choice about working for them—and now that planetary isolationism isn’t going to work anymore, _now_ they want me.”

“Well, at least you’ll get to work with the Avengers, right?”

“I’m not even sure about that … it’s not really clear how officially a part of SHIELD the Avengers are. I don’t think Tony Stark works for anyone but himself, and …” she trailed off. Tony Stark didn’t work for SHIELD. And Stark Industries was very publicly not involved in weapons or defense anymore. Maybe … “I need to go.” She stood up. “I don’t mean to run out on you but … I need to go.”

~~~

_“Good afternoon, Dr. Foster,”_ came the disembodied voice as soon as she entered Stark Tower. There were various people milling about the lobby—SHIELD personnel, she assumed, assessing damages.

“You’re called JARVIS, right?” she asked, looking up. Computers weren’t her area of expertise, of course, but an A.I. as complex as she understood JARVIS to be was … pretty cool.

_“Yes, Dr. Foster.”_

“I need to talk to Mr. Stark, is he around?” That Tony Stark had put such a complicated program to use as a robot butler was, well, in line with everything she knew about Tony Stark.

_“He is. Step inside the elevator, please.”_ It took her up—Jane wasn’t sure how many floors—and opened into a lab or workshop or sorts. She just stood there and stared for a moment. She had thought the observatory in Tromso had good equipment! Not that she recognized most of what was here—she wasn’t an engineer, after all—but she had a suspicion that most of it was better than money could buy.

“Uh, JARVIS, I thought I told you not to let anyone in here.” Academic curiosity won out, so Jane found herself more fascinated that the A.I. could make its own decisions and override commands than offended that she didn’t even merit a “hello.”

_“Based on your previous interest in Dr. Foster’s work, I assumed you would want to see her,”_ said the computer.

“Oh, Jane Foster.” Stark stepped across the room. “You’re here about the portal generator. Would you like a job?”

“Well, um—wait, what?”

“Your talent’s wasted in academia, you do know that.”

“Is this—are you asking me on behalf of SHIELD?”

“Of course not. Stark Industries.”

“I … you want to build a portal yourself.”

“Good, we’re on the same page. Look, I’ve read enough of your history to know that SHIELD hasn’t done you any favors.”

No need to beat around the bush, then. “That’s what I came to ask you about. Something Loki said to me—I think he _wants_ us to see everything out there as a threat. To, well, to shoot first and ask questions later. And that’s what SHIELD would do, isn’t it?

“Phase 2,” said the other man in the room, a shorter man who Jane had barely registered as she stepped in. “SHIELD’s been adapting any alien tech they’ve found into weapons.”

“Why would Loki want that?” Stark asked.

“I don’t know,” said Jane. “It doesn’t fit with his plan if he actually wanted to rule the Earth.”

“It makes us the bad guys,” said the other man. “Violent, uncontrollable. We don’t know what else is out there—the Chitauri could be an anomaly.”

“And we defeated the Chitauri. If we go out there guns blazing, no one else will give us a chance.”

“So you’re building your own space program,” said Jane. “I’m in.”

“Good. Pepper can take care of the paperwork.”

“Um … this is all legal, right?” She recalled the hearings about the Iron Man armor. The government, SHIELD especially, didn’t like potentially world-changing technology in the hands of one man.

“SHIELD will fight it. But they’ll lose.” He sounded confident. Jane supposed he’d know. “Though, best not to be too public about the project just yet.”

Jane nodded, and glanced at the other man. He must be involved, then. She felt like she should recognize him—but no, she couldn’t place him. “Oh, uh, Bruce Banner,” the man said, sensing her curiosity. He held out a hand.

“Wait, really?”

“Oh, you know my work?”

“Of course I know your work,” said Jane. “It’s just—I thought SHIELD had … made you disappear or something.”

Dr. Banner gave a wry laugh. “No, SHIELD’s actually blameless in that regard.”

“How were you involved in all this?”

Banner shot Stark an odd glance. “SHIELD brought me in to track the Tesseract,” he said. “Though—well, Loki put on quite the show, and they didn’t end up needing me after all.” Something struck Jane as odd about the way he phrased that, but she pushed the thought aside. It made sense, after all.

“JARVIS, see that Dr. Foster gets access to all the files relating to the Stargate project,” said Stark.

“Stargate?” asked Jane. “I’m pretty sure that name’s been taken.”

Stark shrugged. “It’s a good name.”

~~~

“You actually met Tony Stark.”

“I’m kind of staying at Stark Tower right now, it’s not too surprising.” Jane had gotten back in touch with Darcy that evening, and they had gone out to get dinner.

“Jane, that place is huge. You could be there every day and never see him. So is he as hot in real life as he is on tv?”

“Um …”

“I know, I know, you’re dating Thor, it’s not a fair comparison. So, is he?”

“He, uh, kind of offered me a job.”

“What.”

“I’m going to work for Stark Industries.”

“… didn’t you say that the only thing worse than working for the government would be working for a megacorporation?”

“I was young and naive.”

“Jane, you said that _after_ we met Thor.”

“And before I realized that if I stay in academia I could do all the research I want, but I’d never be able to build anything.” Oops. That was probably more than she was supposed to let on. “Forget I said that last bit, okay?”

“… right.”

“It’s just, I probably shouldn’t talk about what I’m actually going to be doing there.”

“Uh-huh. In that case, you have to tell me what it was like meeting Tony Stark.”

Jane paused. “It was odd. I met some of the other Avengers, when I came in yesterday to see Thor.” Was it really just yesterday? So much had happened. “And I mean, they saved the world, but I hadn’t ever heard of them before all this. Well I mean I’d heard of Captain America, but you know. Not the actual Captain America.”

“Hold on, you met Captain America too?” Jane nodded. “Nevermind. Go on.”

“And I was sooo awkward around them. I mean, you know how awkward I can be.”

“That I do.”

“And I mean, _Tony Stark,_ you’d think I’d be even worse around him, but it was like something just worked. I mean, he’s overwhelming, but in an ‘I know what you’re thinking because I’ve already thought of it’ sort of way, not like ‘I’m famous and you should probably be impressed.’”

“Careful, it’s supposed to be Thor you’ve got a thing for.”

Jane gave Darcy a flat look. “I don’t have a thing for Tony Stark. He’s at least forty years old, anyway.”

“Thor’s like, a thousand and forty.”

“That’s different. Anyway, all I’m saying is I can relate to him on a scientific level.”

“Yeah, I gotcha. You always do forget to be socially awkward when you start talking about science.”

“I guess,” said Jane. “I’m not _that_ socially awkward.”

“Yes, you are. And I was going to add ‘except when you’re on a mission,’ but hey! When you’re on a mission you do things like run out on people in the middle of coffee dates. What was that about?”

“It’s—look, I’ll tell you later, ok?”

“Fine. So … everyone knows about the Avengers now, does that mean I can tell people I met Thor? Or is that all still classified.”

“Knowing SHIELD, probably still classified. I’ll see if I can do anything though.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Actually, it _is_ cool, having a secret like that. And I mean, law school, right? I shouldn’t have a record of breaking confidentiality. That would be bad.”

~~~

Jane returned to Stark Tower late that evening—she’d talked to Darcy for hours, about really mundane stuff, but she had realized she needed a break from, well, everything. She was beginning to realize just how much everyone was being affected by this. Jane, and Darcy to a lesser extent, could step back a bit and go on with their ordinary lives, because they had already known at least a bit of what was out there. Most people didn’t have that luxury.

Agent Hill was waiting for her. “Whatever Stark’s paying you, we can pay more,” she said without preamble.

Jane blinked. So Stark’s project wasn’t particularly secret after all. “I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do with what Mr. Stark has said he’d pay me. It’s not about the money.”

“Then what is it about?”

“You know what?” Jane asked. “It’s about the fact that you suppressed my work for two years and built weapons when I could have, with enough funding and the resources, built a bridge to Asgard. This whole situation might have gone differently, don’t you see?”

“It might have,” Agent Hill agreed. “They wouldn’t have underestimated us. They’d have sent a force we had no possible way of stopping.”

“Or they might not have attacked us at all,” Jane countered.

“Unlikely. They wanted the Tesseract.”

“What’s your plan, then?” Jane asked. “Obviously you want to build a portal again.”

“Dr. Foster, in defeating the Chitauri, we’ve sent a message to _whatever’s_ out there. We just want to be sure we can live up to that message. You’ve heard the phrase ‘speak softly and carry a big stick.’”

“It’s the ‘speak softly’ part of that I’m worried about,” Jane said. Hill frowned. “Look,” Jane went on. “I know you have the best interests of people of our planet in mind, but the way you want to go about it, you’ll end up keeping us in the dark ages. You covered up the only contact we’ve had with aliens prior to this—maybe _not_ the only one, I don’t know, and that’s the point. If people had known about some of this before, there might’ve been a little less panic now. I’m not advocating throwing caution out the window, but I don’t think we should cower under our beds either!”

“Which is exactly why SHIELD intends to build a portal, to invest in an interstellar presence that—”

“But the _rest_ of the world would still be hiding. Behind your fence. Look, I just—I don’t think there’s anything you can say that will convince me you’ll handle this well. I wouldn’t be working for you even if Stark hadn’t hired me—” she hadn’t been certain of that fact until just now, she realized “—but he seems to think the same way I do, so … yeah.”

~~~

Tony Stark was waiting for her as she stepped off the elevator. “I was watching that, you know,” he said.

“You were?”

“SHIELD tries to pull something like that in my tower, of course I was. Your conclusions are pretty much spot-on, by the way. There’s not a lot they won’t do in the name of ‘protecting’ the earth.” Jane waited. “There was a missile,” Stark said. “The World Security Council—the organization SHIELD reports to—sent a nuclear missile at Manhattan when it looked like we were going to lose. Well, before they even gave us a chance, really.”

“That would have destroyed the entire city.”

“They call that ‘making the hard decisions.’ I call it panic. To be fair, SHIELD themselves tried to stop it, but, well, they failed.”

“The portal generator,” said Jane. “Is it still here?”

“Not going anywhere,” said Stark. “Neither is Dr. Selvig. He’s not all that eager to get back to SHIELD, either.” Jane nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Foster.”


End file.
